The old woman took a slow sip of water, her blind eyes fixed on a past only she could see. Her voice, though soft, carried the weight of years.
"I was not always like this," she began, a distant sadness lacing her words. "Once, I had a husband, a family, and a life filled with hope.
We were poor hunters, living day to day on what we could gather. But then… we heard rumors."
She shifted in her seat, her gnarled hands resting on her lap.
"They said something valuable lay at the heart of Galdreth. Something that could change a man's fate overnight. For those of us who had nothing, the promise of power and wealth was too great to ignore."
Cassian and his group listened in silence as she continued.
"My husband, Varlen, and his friends stumbled upon an old cave while hunting. It seemed ordinary at first—just another dark hollow in the mountains. But then… they found the carvings."
